Improvement in railway-switches



1. M. ELEM.

Railway Switches.

Patented April 21, 1874.

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PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES M. GLEM, OF LEE COUNTY, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, M. F. EOHOLS, OFOPELIKA, ALABAMA, AND WEST POINT FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF WEST POINT,GEORGIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILWAY-SWITCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 149,990, dated April21,1874; application filed fay 17, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES M. GLEM, ot' the county of Lee and State ofAlabama, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Laying Tracks ofRailroads,- and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing forming a part of this specification.

The invention consists in one short rail connected with three rails thatform a doubletrack connection, as hereinafter fully described andclaimed.

' In the drawing the figure represents a plan view.

A B represent two lines of a single track. The line A has twoswitch-rails, A A and the line B one switch-rail, 13. G D is abrauch orturn-oit' track; E, a fixed rail, corresponding in direction to the lineI) and F, a V-rail. G is the crank-shaft, provided with rod-connectionsa Z) 0, attached to clamps d that hold the rails. The switches arerepresented in Fig. l of drawing as in position to allow the cars topass over the straight or main track A B; but if the crankshaft isturned a half-revolution, the switch A is made to joint with branch lineC, and B with fixed rails E, while A is moved in the opposite directionuntil it joints with the fixed rail E. The cars are thus enabled to takethe branch track 0 D.

I am aware that several switch-rails have been operated simultaneouslyfrom a main track to connect with a turn-off track; but they havehitherto always allowed some of the joints to be formed of two loose orswitch rails. and in an outward direction is always greatest at the endof the lever-switches or at the joint farthest from thefulcrum, itbecomes highly important that two switches shall never form a joint. Inorder to prevent this, I employ a fixed rail, E, placed obliquely acrossthe main track, and am thus enabled to complete the turn-oi'l with everyjoint composed of one fixed and one movable rail.

I am also aware that in patent to F. P. Perdue, April 12, 1869, anintermediate rail, the same number of switch-rails, and four joints, aredescribed; but the fixed intermediate rail is made much longer thanmine, and thejoints are so arranged as to require a too complicatedmechanism.

By my construction I am enabled greatly to lessen and simplify theoperative mechanism, while I save three bars of rail-iron, thirty feetof rod-iron for the mechanism, sixteen long ties, and dispensealtogether with the two fulcrum-levers.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

The combination, with the main rails A B, of the short fixedintermediate rail E and the three switch rails A, A and B, all connectedto and operated from the single crankshaft G by the rods to b c, as andfor the purposes herein set forth.

JAMES M. GLEM.

\Vitnesses:

WM. BRADLEY, J. W. SMITH.

As the strain on the curve of turn-offs

